In the summer of 1985, 40 years ago, four young foreigners came to Malta to learn the English language, oblivious to how impactful this trip would be for each of them. This summer these "English language students" celebrate four decades of a strong friendship which began when they first met at the NSTS English Language Institute.
This newsroom interviewed the four individuals along with Francis Stivala, director of the NSTS English Language Institute.
The group consists of three Germans - Brigitte Wolf, Leo Einwich and Elke Seitz - as well as an Austrian man named Armen Andonian. Brigitte runs a fifth-generation family shop with her nephew; Leo is now retired after working as an international promoter for the Siemens company; Elke is a professor in architecture and Armen is a businessman based in Dubai. All four can speak English fluently now, they said.
Over the years since their first meeting, they have stayed in contact using the resources available to them - starting with phone calls and handwritten letters, and more recently through modern technology. They try and meet once every year, typically visiting each other and taking turns as to which hometown they visit.
On Wednesday, 11 June, they reunited in Malta to commemorate 40 years since their memorable experience on the Maltese Islands, which occurred between 2 and 21 September 1985. Their reunion was held in the same classroom where they first met.
In their meeting with The Malta Independent on Sunday, Brigitte and Leo reminisced on all the good times the group shared as they enjoyed Malta's "unique charm". This included enjoying the local sunny weather at NSTS's Aquacentre, organising several outings together, having classwork out in the streets, visiting Gozo, and celebrating Brigitte's 24th birthday.
They explained that learning English was their primary reason for coming to Malta, rather than a secondary aspect. In this context, Stivala remarked that "life was very different" at the time.
Brigitte said she had wished to learn English out of her own personal interest; she came to Malta because her parents did not speak the common language, opting to pay the equivalent of €1,250, (excluding flights), to live with a Maltese family during her stay. She said that English lessons in her native Germany only really focused on English writing, grammar and vocabulary, and therefore, she was deprived of opportunities to practise the English language. Elke similarly wished to learn English since she couldn't practise it at home.
Brigitte said that she wanted to seek an opportunity to practise the English language somewhere where she could properly immerse herself in an English-speaking environment. Demotivated by England's gloomy weather, Malta's sunny Mediterranean climate pushed her to book her first flight abroad to learn English at NSTS.
Meanwhile, Leo said that learning English was necessary for him to succeed in his line of work. Since first gaining confidence to speak English in Malta in the mid-1980s, he has used his improved language proficiency to overcome language barriers with people from across the world, including in China, Japan and South Korea.
He said this brief time taught him how to speak freely in English over the phone and face-to-face.
"Before coming, I struggled to speak. I was afraid to speak [in English] and I wasn't sure if I was speaking correctly or not," Leo said.
Brigitte shared that their time in Malta taught them that it is not important if they make a few errors while speaking in English, and that their message can still be communicated well if they speak imperfectly (grammar-wise). Learning this gave them all the confidence they needed to keep practising the English language till they ended up becoming fluent speakers.
They attributed two aspects of their short experience in Malta to helping them becoming confident English speakers: conversation classes and the friendly approach taken by their teachers.
Stivala commented that their teacher was central to all of this, as she had socially treated herself as one of them, and even befriended them herself.
Reaction to returning to Malta after 40 years: 'a lot of traffic - is it normal here?'
This reunion was their first time returning to Malta since coming here 40 years ago.
When asked what changes she had noticed in Malta since their visit four decades ago, Brigitte immediately pointed out the increase in traffic. She said she was very surprised to see such high levels of traffic in the country, especially after she had reminisced on the photographs she had taken of areas like St Julian's back in 1985.
In contrast to today's heavy traffic, she observed that there were no cars visible on Maltese roads in the old photographs she had taken - she added that she photographed more people walking in the streets than vehicles. Back in the day, Leo had rented a car and had "no problem" driving around, even though he is accustomed to driving on the other side of the road. They told this newsroom that "it's a problem today" with Brigitte telling her friend Leo that he'd go crazy if he had to drive in Malta today with the amount of traffic.
Reflecting on her experience with modern Maltese traffic, Brigitte recalled that the reality hit her earlier in the week when she found herself waiting endlessly for a bus in Sliema. As she waited patiently for her bus to arrive, she and her husband watched on as long lines of traffic filled up the waterfront main road for an hour. Brigitte also shared that she and her husband ended up catching a taxi instead of catching a bus as planned, after growing infuriated; their final straw was when the "wrong bus" arrived at their bus stop.
During this interview, Stivala told this newsroom that nowadays, it is common to hear about "rowdy English language students" - whom he described as "a pain to us" - though remarked that we, as a country, are often not acknowledging the benefits that English language students leave behind.
Speaking positively about English language schools, Stivala said that this sector enabled Malta to enter the European market, and that through positive experiences like these, Europeans spread the message of what Malta is. He explained that this contributed to diversifying Malta's tourism market, as their positive experiences on the islands were shared through word of mouth.
"There are a lot of positive influences, because through our hospitality, they created a bonding with the students which had this emotional relation; so going back home, Malta was spoken of positively," he said.
Stivala explained that the country's reputation is therefore very much naturally affected by the human experiences felt by inbound tourists while here.
The NSTS English Language Institute was the first English Language School to be founded in Malta back in 1963.